My blog is about anything that affects my life. I started with food, but I end up sharing characters from my past and my opinions about various topics.

MCKNOTES DECADENT DESSERT

About this blog

By Rich McKinney

Rich started writing for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin as music critic for the symphony and opera seasons. Originally from Granite City, IL, he graduated from Simpson College with a degree in music education. In 1984 he received his MA in Music
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Rich started writing for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin as music critic for the symphony and opera seasons. Originally from Granite City, IL, he graduated from Simpson College with a degree in music education. In 1984 he received his MA in Music Education from Truman State. Now retired, Rich enjoyed reading, writing music and short essays. He is the director of Kirksville Community Chorus.

MCKNOTES DECADENT DESSERT
I haven’t given any kitchen tidbits for a while, so I’ll share with you a dessert that’s easy and exceptionally tasty. This recipe requires no baking, and there are options galore.
Ingredients:
16 Oreo cookies
3 Tbsp. margarine or butter
1 8 oz tub cool whip, (thawed)
1 cup milk
1 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla instant pudding
2 squares of Baker’s semi-sweet baking chocolate
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
Crush the Oreo cookies until you have a nice fine crumby texture. This is Magic Bullet work in my kitchen. Add the margarine (melted) to the crumbs and mix well. Press this mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9” pie pan and put into the freezer while you put together the rest of the recipe. You can use margarine or butter. You can also replace the Oreo cookies with graham crackers, but if you, maybe use an extra tablespoon of melted margarine or butter. The icing in the Oreos really helps to form the crumbs into a crust.
In a separate bowl, mix the cup of milk and the dry pudding mix. The pudding box will tell you that you need two cups of milk, but we’re not making pudding here. That wouldn’t be nearly decadent enough. With a whisk, mix the milk and pudding mix until smooth. Then add in the Cool Whip. You can save some of the cool whip to put over the top of the pie just before serving, either by adding a dollop to each piece or adding another layer to the pie. I’d choose the dollop so that you don’t cover all of the chocolate.
Once this mixture is smooth and well blended, spoon it into the pie shell crust. If you want to use a regular pie crust, you’ll have to bake it first and let it cool, but again, the Oreos really make it tasty.
Melt the Baker’s chocolate in the microwave. You can use a double boiler if you’re trying to impress someone, but it’s a bit fussy. Microwaves are all a bit different, so I’d start at 30 seconds and add a bit of time until the chocolate is nicely softened. If you overcook it in the microwave, you’ll ruin the texture and the taste. Once it’s melted, add 1/3 cup of the sweetened condensed milk. Mix the two together and pour over the top of the mixture already in the pie shell. Use a knife to drag through the chocolate topping to make a more artistic presentation as well as to mix the chocolate into the pudding part of the pie. This will give it a nice marble look. Put the pie back into the freezer for six hours or until firm. Remove from the freezer fifteen minutes before serving, or you can serve it frozen like ice cream. You can also shave some milk chocolate curls on the top of the pie.
Another tip: if you have a dog, baker’s chocolate is the most dangerous kind for dogs to get hold of, so don’t leave it on the counter or where your doggie can get to it.
This dessert is quite easy and really tasty. You can easily get eight servings from a 9” pie. It’s really rich and tasty. I got this recipe from friends Sandy and Nancy. I think they served it to me to make up for beating me so badly at card games.